Knowing the Will of God

“For this
reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you
and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual
wisdom and understanding.” (Colossians 1:9)

Here, Paul is
asking that the Colossians might come to understand God’s will.  This is important to Paul, because He knows
that if they begin to understand the will of God, then everything good that He
desires for them will follow.  So, the principal
goal of a believer’s life ought to be to know God’s will.

Here is where
many young Christians get off track.  They
think the will of God is an itinerary leading them to where God wants them to
go, and what God wants them to do.  Most
of them pray with those thoughts in mind.  But knowing God’s will is about much more than
simply knowing what to do, it begins with knowing who we are.

The beauty of
the good news is that He has made us into something different than what we once
were.  So the primary course in the
curriculum of the Spirit is to learn what God has made you to be.  You no longer belong to yourself, so you are
no longer to live for yourself. Your
will, your pleasure, your comfort are no longer to be primary in your life, but
what God calls you to be and what he has made you to be.  The more you understand who you now are, and
what God has done to make you that way, the more your behavior will
automatically change and you will do the things that please Him.

Where do we
find that out?  Paul goes on to say, “…through
all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”  There are two things that enable us to
discover the will of God.  The first is
spiritual wisdom.  This is wisdom that
comes from the Spirit, not from the natural mind of man. That is what
Christians need to discover, what God thinks about life.  That is reality.  If you want to be faithful, then read and
study your Bible to discover how God looks at things. Everything else is fantasy.

The second
thing necessary to discover the will of God is understanding.  That is the application of the wisdom you are
learning to specific circumstances of life.  Understanding is a clear vision of what needs
to be done.  Some are struggling with
problems and don’t know what to do.  So,
the first thing to do is to understand how God sees your problem, and what He
says about it in His word.  Then, as you
pray and seek His face, a clear vision will appear of what needs to be done; what
steps to take or not to take.  These are
not natural abilities. They are given by
the Spirit, and therefore possible to all believers.

So, when you
open the Bible, pray that God will give you spiritual wisdom, the wisdom of God,
and will help you to understand what it says.

Can God change your life?

God has made it possible for you to know
Him, and experience an amazing
change in your own life.

Discover how you can find peace with God.